Features

Come behind the scenes at We Can Make Anything in Florida and tour M.E.'s craft room.

I love just being able to have a room to explore creatively in. We're lucky enough to have a whole spare room in the home devoted entirely to crafting & photography. The space is great, & I love all the natural light that flows in.

Tell us about your space

Luckily for me this space serves as mainly a crafting room, but it also doubles as a photography room & stores other various odds & ends. It's a pretty decent sized room - my girlfriend (the other half of We Can Make Anything) & I picked our current home based on the amount of space to be creative in since we're both the DIY-ing type. Sometimes I think we have a little too much space, but then I spread out with a messy project or large tutorial & am thankful for the square footage. This is definitely my dedicated sewing room, but it's also the room in which I paint, draw, & work on the messier projects.

What have you done to make your space cosy, beautiful or inspiring?

The coziest part about the space is my cat. The craft room is also considered her room because she spends most of her time there. She's an animal after my own heart, & will often try to lend a hand (or paw, rather) when I'm using sparkly or dangly materials.

My girlfriend & I have filled the space with things that we have made in an effort to remind us to stay creative. I also like to keep a to-do list running on the wall to keep me motivated.

How do you keep organized?

While I do enjoy having space to spread out with my crafting, keeping everything tidy & organized helps spur my creative energy too. Everything is grouped together & labelled in boxes which helps me find materials much faster than if they were in disarray. Keeping things organized also helps cut down on costs. Knowing where everything is keeps me from losing things & accidentally purchasing doubles of materials I already have.

Any tips & tricks for organising supplies?

Always put everything away when you're done with a project. I wouldn't recommend cleaning everything up at the end of the day if you're not finished with your project, as this tends to make me less enthusiastic to jump in again. However, new projects are easier to start when everything is put away where it should be, & thus, easy to find.

Which are your favourite possessions and are there any of your own creations on display?

My favorite piece of equipment in the craft room is my Kenmore sewing machine which was passed down to me from my grandmother. It's built into a table which makes it a little cumbersome, but it's the sturdiest machine I've ever used. I also love my label-maker because it helps keep everything organized. Most of the creations that I have on display are from my time in college when I worked on my art degree. It creates a positive environment having reminders of the things I've accomplished surrounding me.

How do you organise your inspiration and ideas?

Since ideas come to me at the weirdest of times, I use my phone to store most of my plans. The projects that are in-progress generally sit out in my craft room, reminding me to work on them.

Where do you look for inspiration?

Most of my tutorial ideas come from a need for something. For instance, when the refrigerator that came with our rental home was too much of an eyesore to bear due to rust & wear, I covered it in brightly striped contact paper. I also like to make tutorial in season, so this past Christmas all of my tutorials were either gift-based or holiday-themed.

If you had three wishes, what would you do to make it the dream space?

Wish #1: More windows! There just isn't ever enough natural light for photo-taking.
Wish #2: To own it. There's only so many holes you can put in a rental home's walls before you begin to wonder about your security deposit. If I owned the space I would install more built-in shelving to hold my supplies.
Wish #3: Color theme! I love how organized the craft room is, but I'm still working on having everything in there match.